Becoming Less Bushy

Coincidental to the November 2008 Presidential Election, I started doing a stretch of work that was mostly telecommute. That got me motivated enough to not shave for not just a little while, but not until Inauguration Day. It was hard work, and I was thinking of throwing in the towel on New Year's Day, but I stuck with it until the incredibly bushy conclusion. I can proudly say it was an impossibly stupid thing to do.

It presents a stranger with a nicely ambiguous pseudo-statement about the political process. I might be a Republican growing it in protest of the loss of potency. I might be a Democrat mockingly growing it to show newfound virility. I might be neither, and growing it simply marks the period of anticipated change. I might also just be some unemployed bum that can't afford a razor.

Growing a beard is not unheard of for notable events in sports (playoff beard) or entertainment (strike beard), so why not politics? I didn't think much about it when I started, but this practice should be more common and, to that end, it needs a name. You have at least a four year wait before you can next participate, so take a minute of the intervening time to vote on what you'll be calling it.